If you had your eyes open while you were watching Man of Steel and especially the six-hour fight sequence, you probably noticed that “Lexcorp” was scattered throughout Metropolis on trucks and whatnot. The kids that I pay to do my GED assignments tell me that’s what is known as an “Easter egg” in the movie business, and it basically implies that Lex Luthor might play a prominent role in the Man of Steel sequel, which will also feature Batman.

While the major wild speculation has been all about which actor will play the Dark Knight, the snoops at Latino Review have launched yet another juicy rumor into the stratosphere by implying that Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston (seen above properly ignoring Jay Leno) is Warner Bros.’ favorite to play Superman’s human nemesis.

Additionally, Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, Green Lantern, John Carter) told Digital Spy to “watch this space” when they asked him about the rumor that he is being considered for Lex Luthor, and I don’t know what that means. But both Strong and Cranston would be awesome picks for the character that was last played by Kevin Spacey in that movie that we’re supposed to pretend never happened.

They should leave Lex out of all new Superman movies. Superman apparantly breaks people’s fucking necks now, a person without super powers can’t be in this reboot. Also he is just a tired villian, give him his retirement.

They claim to have sources everywhere in Marvel and DC. Of course all of the rumors are prefaced with “It’s so early in the development process…” so even if they’re wrong, down the road they can be like, “Well at the time it was true because they were just considering so and so.” But if they’re right about any of them, it far outweighs being wrong. Or something like that. I find the practice more fascinating than the actual rumors.

You know, I was actually opposed to Lex being in this series as a main antagonist, but I think he could work quite well as a supporting antagonist. And it really does make sense for him and Batman to work together. They’re both rich, well-meaning dudes who see Superman as a threat.